Lubricating composition

ABSTRACT

A polyamide yarn-lubricating composition of particular value to yarns that are to be subjected to a false-twisting operation which comprises in dispersion a volatile aliphatic ester (A), optionally a volatile oil-soluble surfactant (B), an anionic surfactant (C), that is different from (B) if (B) is present and an antistatic agent (D).

United States Patent Flett [54] LUBRICATING COMPOSITION [72] inventor: Alexander Campbell Flett, Pontypool, En-

gland [73] Assignee: Imperial Chemical Industries Limited,

London, England [22] Filed: Aug. 5, 1968 [21] App1.No.: 750,021

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 11, 1967 Great Britain ..37,029/67 [52] US. Cl ..117/138.8N, 117/1388 A, 117/139.5 CQ, 117/139.5 F, 252/8.6, 252/87, 252/8.75, 252/89 [51] Int. Cl. ..D06m 13/00 [58] Field of Search ..252/8.75, 8.7, 8.9, 8.6; 117/1395 F, 138.8 N, 138.8 A

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,079,108 5/1937 Dreyfus et a1 ....252/8.6 x

[ 5] Feb. 22, 1972 Primary Examiner-Herbert B. Guynn AttorneyCushman, Darby & Cushman [57] ABSTRACT A polyamide yarn-lubricating composition of particular value to yarns that are to be subjected to a false-twisting operation which comprises in dispersion a volatile aliphatic ester (A), optionally a volatile oil-soluble surfactant (B), an anionic surfactant (C), that is different from (B) if (B) is present and an antistatic agent (D).

1 Claim, No Drawings LUBRICATING COMPOSITION The present invention relates to lubricating compositions and more particularly to lubricating compositions suitable for application to textile yarns so as to aid their subsequent processing.

ln the following description of the present invention, the expression textile yarns should be interpreted as embracing yarns derived from either synthetic homoor copolymeric polyamides whether in the form of continuous monofilament, continuous multifilaments, or staple fibers.

it is well known to apply to textile yarns, at some convenient early stage in their manufacture, lubricating compositions such as will assist any subsequent processing that the textile yarn may undergo, and a variety of such compositions have been formulated to meet an equal variety of yarn treatments.

In recent years, however, the classical yam-lubricating compositions have often been found unequal to the demands of the complicated handling and processing operations to which synthetic textile yarns are now subjected, and considerable effort has been directed to modifying the old lubricants and formulating new compositions capable of meeting the needs of the new yarn-processing techniques and high-speed yarn treatments.

One such yarn treatment is that commonly referred to as false-twisting" in which turns are inserted in opposite directions and in equal numbers into adjacent elements of textile yarn. This condition may be rendered durable by heat setting the yarn during the false-twisting operation.

When the technique of false-twisting in its simplest form is used to make a torque-stretch yarn, the textile yarn in question is twisted, heat set, and then detwisted, which results in the yarn taking up a wavelike configuration. The uniformity and degree of yarn deformation or bulking that occurs will depend upon various factors, but overriding the conditions of any one particular type of false-twisting operation is the efficiency with which that operation can be performed.

The principal elementary aspects of false-twist bulking or crimping involve the passage of yarn from a package over various guides, a heater and a twist pin which inserts and takes out twist before the new yarn is wound up. Twist inserted by this pin runs back into the hot zone where it is set, thus bulk can be developed on detwisting by virtue of the memory of the original twisted state that had been previously induced.

Obviously, the effectiveness of the part played by the twist pin in this operation will depend in the first instance upon the ability of the pin and/or conditions of the operation to prevent twist inserted on the hot zone side of the pin passing over the pin, so that real twist occurs on a portion of the bulked or tex-- tured yarn. The point at which slippage of yarn over the twist pin occurs resulting in the insertion of real twist is often called a tight-spot" and the phenomenon twist-bleeding.

Consequently, the effect of twist-bleeding is to seriously impair the efficiency of the false-twisting process.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to increase the resistance of yarn to twist-bleeding during a yarn false-twisting operation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a textile-lubricating composition capable of fulfilling the usual demands made upon such compositions during the preparation of a textile yarn, yet giving rise to such conditions at the twist pin that yarn slippage or twist-bleeding is reduced to a minimum.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process whereby textile yarns may be false-twisted without substantial yarn slippage or twist-bleeding occurring.

Other objects will become apparent from the following description of the present invention.

Accordingly, in a first embodiment, the present invention consists of a polyamide yam-lubricating composition comprising in dispersion not less than 30 percent by weight of a volatile aliphatic ester (A), optionally a volatile oil-soluble surfactant (8), not less than 10 percent by weight of an anionic surfactant (C), that is different from (B) if (B) is present and not less than 2 percent'by weight of an antistatic agent (D), such that the dry weight ratio. of (C) to (D) is always greater than 3.

Under some conditions it is possible to dispense with component (D) altogether.

In a second embodiment, the present invention comprises process whereby polyamide yarn may be false-twisted without substantial twist-bleeding occuring, by applying to that yarn prior to the false-twisting operation, an aqueous or nonaqueous dispersion of a lubricating composition of the kind described above.

To qualify as successful components (A) and (B) must be relatively volatile and this limitation may be assessed by a test in which lO-gram sample of the ester or surfactant is placed in shaped dish so that the resulting total liquid/air surface area is approximately 46 sq. cm. The dish is then placed in a conventional air-oven fitted with a fan for 3 hours and maintained at a temperature of l80;t3 C. Only if the weight of the sample residue remaining after this period is less than 30 percent of its starting weight, is the compound suitable for the present lubricating composition.

Compounds meeting this volatility demand and which have been found useful, include, either singly or in admixture, with respect to component (A), higher aliphatic esters generally described by the formulas:

RCOOR, ROCOR'COOR", RCOOR'OCOR", and RCOOR (OR"O),,COR" where R, R, and R" represent hydrocarbon chain segments where the number of carbon atoms is governed by the volatility requirements and n is a whole number. More specifically are mentioned diethyl sebacate, dipropyl adipate, ethylene glycol dicaproate, diethylene glycol dibutyrate, nand iso-propyl myristate nand iso-butyl myristate, ethyl and propyl palmitate and ethyl stearate. In the practice of this invention the use of esters possessing more than 20 carbon atoms is not envisaged.

In the case of component (B), its presence is optional and is determined by requisite operating conditions. Any oil-soluble surface-active agent or mixture of agents meeting the volatility test may be used and in this respect Laurex (Registered Trademark) Ll, dodecanol, and ethylene glycol monolaurate and lauramide have been found useful.

Almost any anionic surfactant or combination may fulfill the role of component (C), provided that ammonium salts are excluded, and sulphated castor oil has been found to perform satisfactorily. Mixtures of sulphated castor oil and Pine oil (usually l020 percent) have also been found to be satisfactory. Other examples of component (C) include, both sulphated and sulphonated vegetable oils such as groundnut or olive oils and either sulphated or sulphonated oleic acid. Such surfactants are nearly totally involatile and hence leave little or no deposit on the heaters of the false-twisting apparatus.

Component (D), like component (B) is not an essential ingredient and similarly its presence depends upon particular operation conditions. If present, however, the antistatic agent should not lead to any substantial deposit on the heaters of the false-twisting apparatus. In this respect, water-soluble polyethylene oxide surfactants containing more than 50 percent by weight of ethylene oxide, Atlas (Registered Trademark) G.3780Athe condensation product of an alkyl amine with ethylene oxide, nonyl phenoxy polyethenoxy ethanol, cetyl polyethenoxy ethanol and polyethenoxy lauramide have been found to behave successfully. A more specific illustration of the condensation product of alkyl amine with ethylene oxide is the condensation product of lauryl amine and ethylene oxide in the ratio of 1:15 mols.

Besides increasing the resistance of polyamide yarn so treated to twist-bleeding, application of the lubricants of this invention decrease the dependence of the yarn bulking tension during the false-twisting operation on the amount of lubricant actually present on the yarn, which in turn leads to improved uniformity of yarn treatment and therefore more uniform final fabric.

Another important advantage of the present lubricant is that, in carefully choosing the more volatile of the composition components according to their volatility, fouling or coking of the false-twisting process heaters can be avoided, which in turn renders the process less liable to disruption through the presence of broken filaments caused by snagging and shutdowns for cleaning to be carried out.

Though the present invention is specifically directed to the preparation and use of lubricating compositions for textile yarns derived from synthetic polyamides, it is possible that such compositions may be applied under some circumstances with similar success to yarns derived from there synthetic polymers, for example: polyesters, polyolefins, polyacylics, polyureas, polyurethanes, polyvinyls, polyethers, and Cellulose esters nd respective copolymers.

The present invention is illustrated, but not limited, by way of the following examples in which parts and percentages are by weight.

pies 5 and 6) both at 200 C., while yarn pretension of 8 grams '(Examples 1 -4) and 5 grams (Examples 5 and 6) was used.

On examination, the final crimped yarn from each of the examples as found to be completely free of tight-spots.

Measurement of the tension ratio of the yarn over the twist pin (i.e., the ratio of yarn tensions immediately before and after the pin), as also made in order to compare the value of the present lubricating compositions with those previously available, H

What is claimed is:

1. A process for increasing the resistance of polyamide yarns to twist-bleeding during positive false-twisting with a twist pin in which the yarn is treated prior to the false-twistin g with an aqueous dispersion of from l-20 percent of a lubrication composition consisting essentially of:

a, not less than 30 percent by weight of a volatile higher aliphatic ester containing not more than 20 carbon atoms, said ester being selected from the group consisting of Tension ratio new/ Compcmeflt (A) Component (B) Component (C) Component (D) old Example:

1 Isobutyl myristate, 60 pts Nil Sulphated olive oil 82 pts Atlas 1 G-3780A 8 p s 2 ..db Nil Sulphated groundnut oil 32 d pts. 3 Isobutyl myristate, 50 pts Laurex 1 L1, 17 ts Sulphated castor oil with Atlas 1 G.3780A 5 pts.. 5/3

Pine oil 27.5 pts. 4 Isobutyl myristate, 55 pts... Laurex 1 L1, 5 pts Sulphated groundnut oil 22 pts., Atlas 1 G.3780A 8 pts sulphated castor oil 10 pts. 5 -Propyl myristate, 5 pts Dodecanol, 16 pts Sulphated castor oil with Nll 10% Pine oil 35 pts. 6 Ethyl stearate, 55 pts. .m. Laurex 1 L1, 20 pts Sulphated castor oil with Nil. 6/

10% Pine oil pts.

1 Registered Trademark.

from polyhexamethylene adipamide to give a level of 0.5 percent on yarn.

in all the examples the yarns were then drawn and wound- These yarns were each processed on a tension feed falsetwist crim in a aratus at at am 5 eed of 150 feet er minute an at wis headspeed of i44,0(?

0 r.p.m. Twist as set m diethyl sebacate, dipropyl adipate, ethylene glycol dicaproate, diethylene glycol dibutyrate, nand isopropyl myristate, nand iso-butyl myristate, ethyl and propyl palmitate and ethyl stearate,

. not less than 10 percent by weight of sulphated castor oil admixed with 10-20 percent by weight pin oil; and

. not less than 2 percent by weight of at least one antistatic agent which is a water soluble polyethylene oxide surfactant containing more than 50 percent by weight of ethylene oxide and selected from the group consisting of the condensation product of lauryl amine with ethylene oxide in the ratio of 1:15 mols, nonyl phenoxy polyethenoxy ethanol, cetyl polyethenoxy ethanol and polyethenoxy lauramide,

such that the dry weight ratio of anionic surfactant (b) to antistatic agent (c) is greater than 3. 

